


When Evil Escaped From Pandora’s Box, Hope Stayed

by Spaceecactus



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, Clay | Dream Kills TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream Manipulates TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Grief/Mourning, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/referenced suicidal thoughts (again from Tommy’s exile- not in detail but they’re there), Mentions of Tommy’s Exile (not in detail but they’re there), Post-Tommy’s death, Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit are Siblings, Wilbur tries to be a good brother, i just love sbi family dynamic what can i say, the major character death is for tommy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:14:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29831685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spaceecactus/pseuds/Spaceecactus
Summary: It’s dark. Not dark like the obsidian cage, the dark of fear and loneliness and fear and uncertainty and the terrifying abyss of the unknown, no, this darkness is nothing like that. This darkness is regret, comfort, and something incredibly, heartbreakingly sad.Tommy opens his eyes and finds himself in a grassy field, hills gently rolling as far as his eyes can see, and the night sky, which normally is full of shimmering stars, is nothing but a black void. He sits up, turning to see a figure standing completely still, watching him from a short distance away.Or, after Tommy dies, he meets his brother in the afterlife and they have a heartfelt conversation.
Relationships: Wilbut Soot & TommyInnit
Kudos: 69





	When Evil Escaped From Pandora’s Box, Hope Stayed

Lava, bubbling menacingly. Cold, harsh obsidian, faintly glowing with ominous purple veins. The face of the man who once was his friend-but-not-friend, his ~~manipulator~~ , his _enemy,_ laughing, his eyes aflame. Tommy smiles nervously, terrified, but refusing to show any sign of weakness else Dream takes advantage of him once more. _This is not exile, this is not exile, I am in control, I know who I am and who he is_ , Tommy chants like a prayer in his mind. 

Their argument escalates, the lava’s slow, steady fall seemingly hastening with the intensity of the small cage’s atmosphere, and Tommy does not know if the dripping he hears is from the crying obsidian surrounding them or the blood falling from his face. Tommy closes his eyes; there is no escaping this. He accepted death once before, in a familiar scenario; the heat of the lava, the hopelessness, the loneliness, and _Dream_. The only difference is then, he had a way out. The walls continue to close in around him, the dark purples and blacks glistening, taunting him, beckoning him to just rest for a moment, just stop and let the darkness carry him away.

Dream doesn’t stop, his words hitting as hard as his fists, and Tommy feels every bruise, every punch, until suddenly, everything fades away.

* * *

It’s dark. Not dark like the obsidian cage, the dark of fear and loneliness and _fear_ and uncertainty and the terrifying abyss of the unknown, no, this darkness is nothing like that. This darkness is regret, comfort, and something incredibly, heartbreakingly sad.

Tommy opens his eyes and finds himself in a grassy field, hills gently rolling as far as his eyes can see, and the night sky, which normally is full of shimmering stars, is nothing but a black void. He sits up, turning to see a figure standing completely still, watching him from a short distance away. 

“Tommy?” The voice calls, and oh, Tommy would know that familiar lilt anywhere. His brother always had a musical voice. 

“ _Tommy_?!” The voice, closer now, quavers and shakes as it forms the syllables of his name.

“Wil?” Tommy’s voice cracks. “Wil! I’m over here!” 

The figure sprints, until Tommy sees the faintly glowing spirit of Wilbur, his brother, rushing towards him with open arms. 

Tommy stands, hesitantly, on translucent legs and looks up as Wilbur crashes into him, knocking him to the ground again.

“Tommy, Tommy, I am so, so sorry.” Wilbur whispers, holding onto his younger brother as if the world were crashing down upon them. In a way, it already has.

“Wil- I- Why am I here? I was in the prison with D-Dream, and now- _where am I?”_ Tommy asks, terrified of confirming what he, in his heart, already knows. 

“You died, Tommy.” Wilbur states, straight to the point. No use brushing over it now.

“I- what?”

“You died, alone with Dream in that hellhole of a prison.”

Tommy pushes Wilbur back, freezing as the realization of _just where he is_ hits him.

“But, I couldn’t have- Sam was right there, he was _right there,_ Wilbur, he was going to get me out. And Techno, and Phil, and Ranboo, and the hotel, and Tubbo- oh God _, Tubbo,_ Wilbur, I’ve left _Tubbo_ , I can’t lose him, I can’t lose any of them, and nobody _came_ and nobody visited and it was just me and Dream, exile all over again, _they’re going to forget about me_ , instead of waking up drowning, I woke up _burning_ , Wilbur-“ Tommy feels tears run down his cheeks and distantly realizes he is crying. “Wil, I can’t leave them.”

Wilbur pulls Tommy closer, enveloping him in a hug so tight that, if either were alive, would have stolen the breath from their lungs. 

“I wasn’t there to help you, and I’ve never regretted anything more in my life. There is nothing I can do to right these wrongs, I know that, but Tommy, I hope one day I am worthy of your forgiveness. I’ve been watching you, not as Ghostbur, who was only an echo of my memory left upon the server, but from here, as myself, or as much of myself is left. I was foolish and immature and so caught up in a _goddamn_ dream of power and supposed freedom that when I lost L’Manberg, I lost myself too. I lost myself, and you were there, desperately trying to hold the pieces of shattered glass I had become together with nothing but your own two hands. I lost myself, and I forced the responsibility of running a _war_ , a _revolution,_ into the hands of my teenage brother. And when I fell apart, when the glass you tried so desperately to glue back together splintered and broke in the explosions at L’Manberg, you cut your hands on my broken pieces. But everyone was too focused on me, on the shattered mirror lying in shards on the ground where the election was held, where we made drugs in a hot dog van, where we learned that sometimes there is no hero in the story, that no one saw how badly you were bleeding. And when you burned George’s house, and threatened Dream, and acted so stubborn and relentless that they _exiled you_ , they only saw your words, your actions, and didn’t see the wounds scourging your hands that you tried so desperately to hide. And when you broke, when the bandages covering your wounds came undone, the only person to see you fall was Dream, the man who broke my mirror in the first place. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you, Tommy. I failed you, forcing upon you the weight of the sun when you are but an asteroid, pulled into a firey demise. Your bright light, your hope, burnt out, because of my own actions, and Tommy, for that I apologize.” Wilbur wipes away the tears streaming down his little brother’s ghostly face, only to find that he himself is crying too.

There is a brief pause, as Tommy processes the words his brother just spoke, laced with heavy grief and guilt.

“I can’t forgive you yet, Wilbur. Not now, maybe not ever. You really fucked us up, you know that?” Tommy laughs, bitterly. “But, Wilbur, you’re my brother. You’re my brother, and nothing you could ever do would make me love you less.” He gives a small but genuine smile towards the glowing figure next to him, and Wilbur pulls him in for another hug. Tommy hugs back, and they muffle their tears in the embrace of their brother. They know that, with certainty, broken as they are, at least they’re together again.

* * *

A dimension away, a boy hears the news of his best friend, shocked into silence. He refuses to listen, refuses to think that something so painful, so _unimaginable_ , could have happened. **He** was laughing, teasing, running, _breathing_ , only a week before. _When did the world become so twisted?_

A boy learns his greatest enemy, the source of all chaos and destruction that has plagued him since he joined this godforsaken server, died a bloody and brutal death. He smiles, and feels like he is supposed to be happy. _Why does he feel so empty inside?_

A being unsure of his own existence learns of the murder of a companion, a once-friend, a debt forever unpaid. _How can you see this and continue to divide yourselves?_

A guardian stands before three children and tells them of their friend’s death, a death under his watch, a death because of his mistake, the death of a _child_. _Where did it all go wrong?_

An ex-sailor furiously tears down the celebration of her corrupted friends, the celebration they held over a _child’s_ bloody end. She was supposed to protect **him**. _How could she have failed so badly?_

A man, scarred from eye to lip, arrives at a hotel feeling hollow. **He** had been invincible, unshakable, both an unstoppable force and an immovable object. _If he dies, what do we have left?_

A being-not-being celebrates the death of a worthy sacrifice. Deep inside, he feels _something_ , aching and cold, perhaps grief. But he brushes the trivial emotion aside, his vision bathed in red. _Tommy, oh, Tommy, how I wish I could have saved you._

In the afterlife, two brothers, divided by war and fear and anger and guilt, embrace for the first time in years. _I didn’t want to meet you like this, but I missed you._

* * *

It begins to rain, and it’s almost as if the server itself cries. _This wasn’t meant to happen_ , it says. _I’m sorry. I love you like the sun loves the moon, unable to touch but chasing after each other for all of eternity, in an ethereal dance. I love you like the clouds love the sky, giving them a home and a place to fly freely. I love you like the fish love the sea, like the planets love the sun, like the universe loves all that is in it. The universe favors chaos, entropy, and Tommy was a force of chaos, of beautiful life and nature._ **_He isn’t gone._ ** _Do not lose hope, brave travellers, for much is to come. Do not lose hope, brave travellers, the spirits of those you grieve have not vanished. Do not lose hope._

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!!  
> I’m Ophelia, it’s nice to meet you!  
> This is my first fic, and I’m super excited to write more :)  
> Tommy’s stream (and everyone’s reactions to it) inspired me to write something, so here it is!! (And yes I cried while watching the stream and while writing this ok ahsgdfdhs I am too emotionally invested in the dream smp ahaha)  
> I hope you guys enjoyed, and have a wonderful day!!! <3


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